The Last Kodachrome Christmas

Published on Tuesday, December 7, 2010, by The CHOW Editorial Team / Edit Post

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Kodachrome film is going away! So we bought some of the last rolls of it (thanks, eBay), shot a nostalgic holiday menu, and got it developed before the last processing center in the world stops processing the film at the end of 2010.

You know how holiday memories always look like old-fashioned film? That film is Kodachrome, and Eastman Kodak discontinued it last year. Unless you are a photo geek, a Paul Simon fan, or old enough to have used the film yourself, the name might not mean anything. But maybe it should. All those cool slides your parents took of the family vacation to the Grand Canyon in ’68? That famous photo from National Geographic of the Afghan girl with the penetrating green eyes? The loop of film played over and over again after JFK's assassination? It was all done on Kodachrome. The film brought color photography to the masses, enrobing our collective and personal memories in its saturated, a-little-too-contrasty, slightly amplified colors.

In an homage to this iconic film, we present the Last Kodachrome Christmas.

And read about what happened behind the scenes of the Kodachrome shoot, including side-by-side comparisons of the digital version and Kodachrome version of each shot.

Food and prop styling: Jill Santopietro, Amy Wisniewski, and Christine Gallary
Set styling: Jill Santopietro, Amy Wisniewski, Christine Gallary, Chris Rochelle, and Jeremy LaCroix
Photography: Chris Rochelle

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POST A COMMENT |16 Comments

COMMENT

  • Beautifully styled shoot. Fabulously creative...well done Chow!

  • Beautiful tribute! I love it, nice work.

  • Very neat.

  • These remind me of my mother's old Betty Crooker cook books, when I absolutely feel in love with food!

    Jeff
    @Eaterie

  • Great post! Would love to see even MORE photos though!

  • Just lovely, I remember the Kodachrome ASA25 I bought , despite a 1.2 lens and it being summer in Hong Kong.

    My how the colours sang, the white sails stood out.

    Thanks for posting

  • I'm currently doing a one woman show in Austin, TX called "A Kodachrome Christmas" which ends with a slide show homage to Kodachrome film. How fun to find this article!

  • Travelina, thanks for the link- what a great photograph!

  • Notice how the red elements really pop? National Geographic was one of the first to exploit that characteristic of Kodachrome. We called it the Red Shirt School of Photography, and we used it to liven up our scientific expeditions: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/06/photogalleries/kodachrome-color-film-discontinued/photo3.html

  • Makes me hungry for Swanson's TV Dinners - particularly the ever-so-piquant Salisbury Steak.

  • Absolutely stunning. What a beautiful tribute to an era of film and food. Well done, Chow, well done.

  • you all are geniuses

  • O my goodness. Never thought I ever se another. My mother has one of those crystal shoes as well...guess I will have to put mustard in it this year.

  • How bloody fabulous! Nice one Chow - just gorgeous.

  • They look like roasted tomatoes with cheese on top to me.

  • are those broiled grapefruit halves?
    even if they're something else, what are they doing on an hors d'ouerves table? pretty hard to eat standing up while holding a cocktail glass.